The pronunciation of wh in Māori: a case study from the late nineteenth century

Abstract

This case study presents an analysis of wh in the Māori and English speech of one speaker, Raureti Te Huia (RTH), Ngāti Maniapoto and Tūwharetoa, born in Te Awamutu in 1885. RTH is the oldest Māori speaker whose pronunciation has been
analysed in this way. The analysis shows that he used four different variants for wh, [h], [ɸ], [ʍ] and [f], with [ɸ] being the most common. There is a great deal of variation in his production of wh, the same word is pronounced with up to four different variants.
In order to evaluate the significance of this case study an analysis of the reasons for the late recognition of wh as a phoneme of Māori is presented. The factors considered include dialect variation in the Māori pronunciation of wh in the nineteenth century, the
influence of the pronunciations of the early missionaries on their ability to hear the sound, and the pronunciation of wh in the speech of nineteenth century Pākehā speakers.